Why Is The Zohar So Complicated?

climate.jpgA question I received: Why is The Zohar very complicated?

My Answer: I spent two years studying anatomy in college, where I learned an infinite number of details and names. And this science only studies individual parts of the human organism, not the links between them. But there are systems within it that we do not even know exist. Though we try, we cannot completely examine the systems that we do know because there is no end to their complexity. Basically, this question is not about The Zohar, but rather about why all of nature is extremely complicated.

The Zohar presents all of reality to us. This includes man, nature, all the worlds (this entire system), and not only its structure, anatomy, parts of this system, and links between them, but its entire operation, function, and its revelation to each one of us according to our position within it.

Our world is like a grain of sand in relation to all the spiritual worlds. There, every element is a billion times greater, not in size, but in complexity in all the connections. The higher the level, the more complicated it is because it incorporates all of the lower degrees.

Where does this complexity come from? In reality, it is infinite. But we need some kind of a boundary, otherwise the object escapes our sensations and attainment. “Lack of boundaries” is like the absence of everything; to me, infinity equals the lack of existence.

This infinite variety of the Upper World emanates from the opposite qualities of the Light and the desire (Kli). They are completely opposite and there is no connection between them. If I wanted to build something between them using their connection, I would get an infinite system.

I am speaking from the point of view of mathematics, and not a spiritual perspective. Take a “1” and a “0,” between these two points there is infinity. It is impossible to connect them. How many numbers are there between zero and one? An infinite amount.

Thus, it turns out that we are unable to perceive this with our brain and with reason in our world. But when we come out of our limitations of the desire to receive, rise above it to another dimension, the desire to bestow, the problem disappears. Everything shifts from the quantitative measure to the qualitative measure. And we easily manage qualities because we perceive them through feelings and not our brain. And our feelings have no problems feeling things that lack precise measure.

Evening Zohar Lesson – 03.06.10

The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Bamidbar (In The Wilderness),” Item 1
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Spirituality Is The Middle Line

Is the Antagonism Between Israel's Secular and Orthodox Jews a Form of Anti-Semitism There is no middle line in nature. The Creator merely prepared all the conditions for the creature to create a soul on its own by building the middle line using a system of two lines. Therefore, the middle line, which we construct out of two lines, is something completely new.

The gradations of dark and light, and good and evil come to us through sensations of these two lines. However, spirituality is neither the right nor the left line. Spirituality is the middle line, the organ of perception (Kli), which we build from two lines and the Light that fills it. It is an entity that did not previously exist. We succeed in creating it out of two forces.

A Mystical Force Or A Catalyst Of Progress?

adjacent A question I received: What is the “Surrounding Light”? Is it a mystical force?

My Answer: The Surrounding Light is the Upper Light present within the connection among us. It just so happens that we don’t feel this connection; on the contrary, we feel separated. It’s as if we are asleep or unconscious and do not sense our corrected state. I am connected to others, but I am no longer aware of it, as if I had fainted after a hard blow to my head.

At this very moment the Light is present within the connection among us. The more I desire to regain my “lost” connection with others, the stronger the Light acts upon me. That is, the Light is as strong as my desire.

I remain inside the system filled with the Light where everyone is united into one whole, but I don’t realize it. Then I start to apply efforts to get back into this system. In a physical world, if I feel dizzy to the point of fainting, I try very hard to shake myself up and to hold on. Similarly, I apply all my inner effort to regain the perception of the spiritual world and recover the sense of my connection with others.

The Light that influences me in accordance with my desire to attain the corrected state is called the “Surrounding Light.” Currently I am in Malchut of the World of Infinity, completely connected to her. The problem is that I have 125 layers or steps of “lost consciousness” compared to the real state in which I am already present.

This desire impacts me only in the event that I want to regain my consciousness. We are like a child who dreams of becoming an adult and because of this desire he grows up.